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KUALA LUMPUR, May 24: South Korea has struggled to find sponsors for September’s Asian Games because the event has been overshadowed by the football World Cup finals, an official said Friday.
Promotion of the Asian Games was “very difficult” as sponsors were more interested in the World Cup finals being co-hosted by South Korea and Japan, Games chief coordinator Rocky Yoon Kang-Ro said.
“We are finding it very difficult to promote sponsorship for the Asian Games because it is back-to-back with the World Cup,” Yoon told AFP on the sidelines of a meeting of Olympic officials here. “Of course, everyone wants to be associated with the World Cup.”
Yoon said the problem was “logical and anticipated” and response from sponsors could improve once the football championships were over.
“From March to June, all the promotional and sponsorship efforts have been blocked by promotion of World Cup but after that, we believe there will be a more active response,” he said.
Officials have estimated the organising costs for the Asian Games, scheduled from Sept 29 to Oct 14, at around 200 million dollars, of which half was to have come from private sponsors.
But the organising committee deputy secretary-general Jung Chung Il said here Tuesday that the targeted 100 million dollars in sponsorships had been cut to 70 million dollars due to difficulty in securing sponsors.
The committee in February signed a deal with Samsung Electronics, which sources close to the organisers said was worth 12 million dollars and marked the largest single event sponsorship deal in Asian sports history.
It is hoping to find 10 major backers to give a similar amount to Samsung and 15 smaller sponsors.
Yoon said preparations for the games were proceeding according to schedule. “The lack of sponsorship will not cause any problems with the smooth running of the Games.
“A huge part of organising costs is backed by the central government and you only have to look at South Korea’s track record of hosting numerous international games as proof,” he added.—AFP
